Tidbits of History, October 31

October 31 is:

Halloween November 1 is celebrated as “All Saints’ Day”. Thus, the day prior (October 31st) is All Hallow’s Eve, “hallow” referring to saints. According to Wikipedia, “The traditional focus of All Hallows’ Eve revolves around the theme of using ‘humor and ridicule to confront the power of death.'”

Carve a Pumpkin Day – no surprise here

National Caramel Apple Day

Candy Apples were first introduced in Arabian cuisine. The reason was that fruit was candied to preserve it.
Soldiers in World War I slanged them “toffee apples.” Candy Apples are popular all over the world.
Everything from a Kool-Aid flavor to a nail-polish shade has been named candy apple red.

Martin LutherOctober 31, 1517 – Protestant Reformation: Martin Luther is believed to have nailed his 95 theses to Wittenberg Castle Church in Germany on this date.

John Jay, author of Federalist Paper # Federalist Paper #2 was published on this date in 1787. John Jay authored the article which is entitled “Concerning Dangers from Foreign Force and Influence”. He continues the arguments Hamilton made in Paper #1 about the necessity of America remaining one nation. This was one of the main concerns of the authors of the Constitution – that the new nation would break apart into regional sections. Jay said:

This country and this people seem to have been made for each other, and it appears as if it was the design of Providence that an inheritance so proper and convenient for a band of brethren, united to each other by the strongest of ties, should never be split into a number of unsocial, jealous, and alien sovereignties.

To all general purposes we have uniformly been one people each individual citizen everywhere enjoying the same national rights, privileges, and protection. As a nation we have made peace and war; as a nation we have vanquished our common enemies; as a nation we have formed alliances, and made treaties, and entered into various compacts and conventions with foreign states.

John KeatsBirthday of John Keats (October 31, 1795), English Romantic poet trained as a surgeon. John Keats was an English Romantic poet. He was one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, despite his works having been in publication for only four years before his death from tuberculosis at the age of 25.

Lake Mead National Recreation AreaNevada Admission Day, 1864 as the thirty-sixth state

  • Capital: Carson City
  • Nickname: Silver State/Sagebrush State/Battle born state
  • Bird: Mountain bluebird
  • Flower: Sagebrush
  • Tree:Single leaf pinon
  • Motto: All for our country

See our page for interesting facts and trivia about Nevada.

Harry HoudiniNational Magic Day, honoring the skills of magicians and commemorating the death of the great Harry Houdini in 1926.

Mount Rushmore1941 After nearly 15 years of work, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota was completed; the colossal sculpture features the heads of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.

1984 – Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, was shot dead by two Sikh security guards. Riots against the Sikh population started soon after.

From Today in Science
In 1992, the Vatican admitted erring for over 359 years in formally condemning Galileo Galilei for entertaining scientific truths such as the Earth revolves around the sun it, which the Roman Catholic Church long denounced as anti-scriptural heresy. After 13 years of inquiry, the Pope’s commission of historic, scientific and theological scholars brought the pope a “not guilty” finding for Galileo. Pope John Paul II himself met with the Pontifical Academy of Sciences to help correct the record. In 1633, at age 69, Galileo was forced by the Roman Inquisition to repent and spent the last eight years of his life under house arrest. Galileo was a 17th century Italian mathematician, astronomer and physicist remembered as one of history’s greatest scientists.

The population of the world is said to have officially reached seven billion on this date in 2011.

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